The present invention generally relates to, and particularly relates to wireless communication systems, and particularly relates to controlling reverse link communications in a wireless communication network as a function of reverse link load softness.
Existing and developing wireless communication network standards support a variety of applications, such as Voice over IP (VoIP), multi-media messaging, web browsing, email, streaming media, and digital audio/video broadcasting services. Some of these services require comparatively high data rates. For example, the end-user experience may be deemed unacceptable unless a multimedia stream is received at or above 1000 kbps. For other applications, a higher data rate might be preferred, but lower data rates are tolerable. For example, the minimum data rate requirements associated with sending/receiving email may be quite low, as email represents a relatively delay insensitive, non-real-time application.
Several consequences flow from the disparate mix of services and corresponding service requirements that may be active at any given time within a given wireless communication network sector. For example, unlike voice-only networks, wherein no single user consumes more than a small portion of the available network resources, one, or a small handful of data users, can consume a large portion of the network resources available in a given sector. Moreover, the actual amount of resources consumed by one or more such users, such as their forward and/or reverse link loading contributions, may be varied by changing one or more service parameters, at least within the Quality-of-Service (QoS) constraints associated with the application(s) being run by such users.